Solved i7 920 C0 Overclock 3.6ghz-3.8ghz help

Hi guys I have been running my cpu at 3.8ghz for some time now, as of late i have noticed it is not entirely stable, if i run it to hard for too long i get a BSOD with the error "clock innterrupt not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval".
(it never actually finishes the "crash dump")
I am aiming for around a 3.6 to 3.8 overclock, which seeing as i have an earler revision C0 chip is probably all i can get. I have a Trition 81 cooler which at the time i got the system was almost the only one available, it seems to work alright but the cpu does get a bit hot, hence the reason for a less aggressive target.
Current timing's below:
Cpu ratio: 20.0
Base clock: 190
PCIE freqency: 100
Cpu Voltage 1.35
Cpu Pll Voltage:1.88
Qpi/Dram Core voltage:1.35
Dram Bus voltage 1.64
Speedstep : disabled

Everything else on auto see images




I would rather it be stable and cool than a high overclock

Any help would be great,

Terronium 12 said:

One thing you can do right off the bat is set the memory timings, command rate (if an option), and the voltage manually.

Another thing is, and I'm presuming here, you can just crank up the multiplier and bus speeds and expect instant stability. You have to do it in incremental steps. Overclocking is a time consuming process and you're going to be doing this for hours (and i do mean hours). If you did work your way to where you're aiming now, what was the last stable frequency/voltage? In any case, 1.35v is a little low for 3.6 or 3.8.

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Not to sure how to set the memory timings which is why i never did it, i am running triple channel memory which i believe complicates things, as well as different brands/modules.
The last it was truly stable, which was quite a while ago 8 months + was at 3.3ghz, almost everything was at auto except the base clock and the cpu voltage, i think the cpu voltage was around 1.3 and the base clock around 170

Terronium 12 said:

Why are you running three different DIMM's?

That alone complicates thing more than necessary.

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Was just the way the build progressed, i had two initially, than bought another one, was than given three

Memory Specs:








I am currently running on default bios settings, don't know if that matters

Terronium 12 said:

remove the Corsair and Kingston sticks.

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Yep.

You have 3 different brands populating all dimms - no wonder you're having an issue.

Stick with matched sets.

Terronium 12 said:

I wouldn't recommend trying to overclock any further as it's most likely the inconsistency in the DIMM's that's causing the BSOD's. I wouldn't at all be surprised if you got Memory Management stop screens because of this.

Get yourself 8GB of identical DIMMs and then you can worry about getting to 3.6 or 3.8, or at least (for the time being) remove the Corsair and Kingston sticks.

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How do you get 8GB with Triple Channel memory? it's going to be 6GB or 9GB. Remember, he has 6 DDR3 slots and you use 3 at a time for Triple Channel.

Zepher said:

How do you get 8GB with Triple Channel memory? it's going to be 6GB or 9GB. Remember, he has 6 DDR3 slots and you use 3 at a time for Triple Channel.

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4, 2, and 2.

Of course I wouldn't recommend mixing different densities either and it likely slipped my mind when I said it, but the point still stands.

Hey bud im pretty darn stable on these settings try em out once you get your new memory..

Crank all your voltages up the the maximum intel supports.. (read here Intel Core i7-920 Overclocking Guide. Page 3 - X-bit labs)

Hey guys thanks for the advice, in the end i have gone for a lower overclock until i can get matched ram as recommended, now running stable at 3.33ghz, not the best, but works for now.

@SevenNerd I would be interested in knowing your actual overclock settings, the guide you linked is the one i originally used to OC to 3.8ghz, but for whatever reason wasn't that stable under heavy load (memory most likely as discussed).

@ Terronium 12 & Zepher I have 6 ddr3 slots as mentioned, configuration is a mess, I have in no particular order, 2gb,2gb,1gb,1gb,1gb,1gb, All the 1gb modules are of the same set i believe, one of the 2gb is Kingston, and the other 2gb is some other brand.

@ Smarteyeball I see that now, I'm in Aus so prices are fun /s, i will try to get a matched 8gb set in the near future, i take it 1600mhz is the way to go??